The Australian Ballet’s Music Director and Chief Conductor is just minutes out of a rehearsal for Copland Dance Episodes as he tells Limelight, “there’s no stopping here for us at The Australian Ballet!”

He’s certainly right: the work’s choreographer, Justin Peck, had stepped straight off a plane from New York before booking it to that same rehearsal. Lo squeezes in a Limelight interview and a short break, before he and the dancers head back to the studio again to rehearse for Romeo and Juliet.

Jonathan Lo

Jonathan Lo. Photo © Kate Longley.

“The dancers are always going from one thing to another. It’s amazing how much they absorb – they learn the steps and musicality very quickly, but it’s been great to see how hungry they are for [Copland’s] particular language, and how quickly they’ve absorbed the nuance,” Lo says.

Copland Dance Episodes makes its Australian premiere with The Australian Ballet on 23 June at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre and will be the first time the work will be performed outside of New York – a major get for Australian dance. Premiered in 2023 for the New York Ballet where Peck is Resident Choreographer,...